Fire kills. While much of the news focuses on the devastating effects of bush fires, the simple truth is that more people die from house fires than natural disasters. The sad thing is that most of these deaths are preventable with the right equipment and approach.
The most commonly thought of safety aid is a smoke alarm. These detect the smoke of a fire and make a high-pitched sound. This alerts the residents of the house and tells them to get out. In some cases, the smoke alarm is directly linked to the fire service. This means they get to the house faster.
However, smoke alarms have an issue. In many cases, they will go off in error. That means when they are going off to tell you about a real fire people will often react slowly as they don’t realize it is genuine.
In addition, the average fire takes just two minutes to take hold. This may not be enough time for people to get out, even with a warning from a smoke alarm. After all, the smoke can easily disorientate people and send them in the wrong direction.
The difference with fire curtains is that they drop down and block a certain part of your home. You can use them to contain an area, you are likely to choose the area that has the most potential to start a fire. But, the better option is to use them to create a safe passage out of your home. This means installing fire curtains on each side of the shortest route out of the house.
Saves Lives
That is the bottom line, fire curtains will buy you considerable more time to get out of the house. In most cases they can withstand the heat of the fire for several hours, giving you that much time to get out of the house.
That is significantly more than the average smoke alarm gets you and can dramatically reduce the number of deaths from house fires.
Reduced Insurance
An added benefit of fire curtains is a reduced insurance cost. Because the fire curtains make it more likely that people will get out alive there will be less need for expensive insurance claims. They can also protect large areas of the house, reducing the amount of damage done before the fire service gets to you.
All this means less cost for the insurance company and a reduced premium for you.
This is particularly important when you consider the increase in open-plan living arrangements. While an open-plan home is great for entertaining and family activities, it does allow a fire to spread quickly. Using fire curtains makes it easier to contain a fire and get people out safely. If you haven’t had them fitted already it is time you considered doing so.
Anything that can increase the safety at home, reduce fire-related deaths, and keep people safer is worth adding to a home. In short, fitting fire curtains will save lives.